Chinese Pinyin Chart with Audio

Every Mandarin syllable in one place. Click any cell to hear a native example character spoken aloud — no downloads, no audio files, everything runs in your browser.

Your browser doesn't support speech synthesis, so audio playback is unavailable. You can still use the chart as a visual reference — try Chrome or Edge for sound.

How to use: click a cell to hear the example character. Rows are initials (consonants), columns are finals (vowels). Combine any initial + final + one of the four tones and you can pronounce every character in Mandarin.

Simple finals
aoeaieiaoouanenangenger
(none)
b
p
m
f
d
t
n
l
g
k
h
j
q
x
zh
ch
sh
r
z
c
s
y
w
i- finals (and j/q/x + u)
iiaieiaoiuianiniangingiong
(none)
b
p
m
f
d
t
n
l
g
k
h
j
q
x
zh
ch
sh
r
z
c
s
y
w
u- finals
uuauouaiuiuanunuangueng
(none)
b
p
m
f
d
t
n
l
g
k
h
j
q
x
zh
ch
sh
r
z
c
s
y
w
ü- finals
üüeüanün
(none)
b
p
m
f
d
t
n
l
g
k
h
j
q
x
zh
ch
sh
r
z
c
s
y
w

Overall recognition syllables (整体认读音节)

These 16 syllables are learned as whole units — you don't split them into initial + final.

The four tones

The same syllable with four different tones means four different words. Click ▶ to hear each one.

妈mā1st tone — high & level · mother
麻má2nd tone — rising · hemp
马mǎ3rd tone — dipping · horse
骂mà4th tone — falling · scold

How to read this chart

Mandarin Chinese has one of the smallest sound inventories of any major language: 21 initials (plus the "zero initial" for syllables that start with a vowel), about 37 finals, and four tones. Every one of the tens of thousands of Chinese characters is pronounced as exactly one syllable built from these parts. Learn the roughly 400 combinations on this page and you can, in principle, pronounce anything — the characters just plug into the sounds.

Start with the simple finals (a, o, e…) and the first row of initials: b, p, m, f are pronounced much like English. Then work through the trickier rows. The initials j, q, x are made with the tongue flat behind the lower teeth — they sound softer than English "j/ch/sh". zh, ch, sh, r are retroflex, with the tongue curled back. z, c, s are dental, like "ds", "ts" and "s". Pay special attention to pairs English speakers mix up: b/p and d/t differ by a puff of air (aspiration), not by voicing.

A few spelling rules make the chart look irregular but keep it logical. After j, q, x and y, the vowel "u" is actually pronounced ü (as in German), so ju sounds like "jü". The combinations iu, ui and un are short for iou, uei and uen — that's why liu rhymes with "yo" and dui with "dway". Bo, po, mo, fo include a hidden "u" glide, sounding like "buo, puo, muo, fuo". And the little syllable er (儿) behaves like nothing else: it's a retroflex vowel that also attaches to other syllables as the famous "-r" suffix of Beijing speech (wánr, diǎnr).

Don't try to memorize the whole grid in one sitting. Pick one row per study session, click through its cells until you can anticipate each sound, then test yourself in our tone practice game. When you meet a new character, look up its stroke order and add its pinyin to this mental map — sound and writing reinforce each other.

Frequently asked questions

How many pinyin syllables are there?

There are about 400 base syllables in Mandarin (initial + final combinations), and roughly 1,200–1,300 distinct syllables once the four tones are applied. That small inventory is exactly why tones matter: many characters share the same syllable and differ only in tone.

How do I hear the pronunciation of a syllable?

Click any cell in the chart and your browser will read the example character aloud in Mandarin using its built-in speech synthesizer. No audio files or downloads are needed. For best results use Chrome or Edge, which include high-quality Mandarin voices.

What are the four tones in Mandarin?

First tone is high and level (mā), second tone rises like a question (má), third tone dips low (mǎ), and fourth tone falls sharply (mà). There is also a light "neutral tone" (ma) used in particles and many common words.

Why do ju, qu, xu, yu write "u" instead of "ü"?

After j, q, x and y the vowel is always ü, so pinyin drops the two dots to keep spelling simple. The u after j/q/x/y is pronounced exactly like the ü in lǜ (绿). Only n and l keep the dots (nǚ, lǜ) because they can pair with both u and ü.

Keep practicing